Norman A. Mordue
How Judge Mordue decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
At the motion-to-dismiss stage applies liberal Twombly/Iqbal plausibility and declines to 'set the bar too high'; fact-intensive defenses (e.g. what a decision-maker knew, causation) are reserved for summary judgment rather than resolved on the pleadings (Rella v. NYS OMH).
“Defendant's argument is better suited for summary judgment since it would be difficult at this stage for Plaintiff to say what Ms. Olivadese knew, or when.”
On summary judgment in employment-discrimination cases he applies McDonnell Douglas rigorously and requires competent, non-conclusory evidence of pretext -- a plaintiff's own belief or merely undercutting the employer's explanation does not defeat the motion (Vance v. ACCO Brands).
“[M]erely disproving the defendant's legitimate explanation is insufficient; the plaintiff must produce competent evidence that 'the employer's decision was motivated, at least in part, by an intent to retaliate against him.'”
Reads pro se papers liberally to raise their strongest arguments, but will still dismiss claims foreclosed as a matter of law (e.g. no individual liability under Title VII) (Burke v. New Venture Gear).
“Courts read pro se papers liberally, interpreting them 'to raise the strongest arguments that they suggest.'”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Summary judgment N = 3 |
Granted: 2Moot / procedural: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to dismiss N = 2 |
Granted: 1Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for reconsideration N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for leave N = 1 |
Denied: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“ORDERED that the motion by defendant Jesse H. Hall to dismiss all claims against him pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) is granted.”
“ORDERED that defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing plaintiffs' claim for unlawful or illegal entry is GRANTED; and it is further ORDERED, that defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the infant plaintiff's claims for failure to file a notice of claim is GRANTED without prejudice”
“ORDERED, that plaintiffs' cross-motion for leave to file a later notice of claim is DENIED.”
“ORDERED that the motion (Dkt. No. 31) is denied with prejudice insofar as it seeks reconsideration, and denied without prejudice insofar as it seeks summary judgment”
“the Court denies the Government's summary judgment motion without prejudice. The Government may, if it so desires, make a summary judgment motion limited to the exhaustion question prior to the completion of discovery.”
“ORDERED that defendant's motion (Dkt. No. 55) for summary judgment dismissing the action is granted; and it is further ... ORDERED that the action is dismissed with prejudice.”
“ORDERED that Defendant's motion to dismiss (Dkt. No. 7) is DENIED”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Mordue's docket-enumerated docket (he went senior in 2013 and died in 2022) is dominated by (a) numerous copyright 'Strike 3 Holdings, LLC v. Doe' BitTorrent suits filed 2022 (referred to MJ Andrew T. Baxter), each terminating within ~2-4 months, and (b) administrative miscellaneous (-mc-) matters: U.S. SBIC-receivership actions (United States v. Audubon Capital SBIC; v. North Texas MESBIC; v. Commerce Capital), SEC/CFTC subpoena- and summons-enforcement proceedings (SEC v. White; v. Copeland; CFTC v. RFF GP; v. Profitstars), and judgment-registration matters -- most terminating the same day or within days. Substantive merits dockets (e.g. Constitution Pipeline land-condemnation; the employment and Section 1983 civil cases in the reasoning layer) are the minority of his late enumerated caseload. nature_of_suit observed: Copyright (17:101), 210 Land condemnation (Natural Gas Act). referred magistrate judges observed: Andrew T. Baxter, David Peebles, Daniel J. Stewart, George H. Lowe.